CQWW CW A61AJ, Dubai, United Arab Emirates George Briggs, K2DM

Transcription

1 CQWW CW 2000 A61AJ, Dubai, United Arab Emirates George Briggs, K2DM

2 United Arab Emirates A constitutional federation of seven emirates: Abu Dhabi Dubai Sharjah Ajman Umm al-qaiwain Ras al-khaimah Fujairah Formally established on December 2, 1971, with independence from the UK 83,600 square kilometers (51,950 sq mi) Capital is Abu Dhabi in the emirate of Abu Dhabi

3 UAE Location

4 Emirates Locations

5 Dubai Map

6 Dubai Facts Covers 1,588 sq mi, up from the original 1,500 sq mi due to land reclamation from the Persian Gulf Hot desert climate, avg high 106 deg in summer with high humidity Population 1,771,000 in 2009; only 15% are Arab UAE nationals. Rest are expatriates or descendents of expats. Official religion is Islam Oil reserves are dwindling. Economy now based on real estate/construction, trade, entrepot and financial services.

7 CQWW DX CW 2000 Ali, A61AJ, wanted to win Asia, if not the world, in the Multi/Multi Category An international all-star team (plus me) of operators was assembled Significant antenna work needed to be done to make the station competitive A container load of equipment was shipped to Dubai from the U.S.: tower sections, yagis, coax, guy wire, guy anchors, guy grips, radial wire, etc. The operators put it all together, with help from Ali and his workers

8 International All-Star Team of Operators K1ZM K2DM UA9BA N2MM A61AJ K3EST W2GD 5B4ADA S53R T97C Abu-Bakr

9 Container Load of Equipment K1ZM K2DM UA9BA N2MM A61AJ K3EST W2GD 5B4ADA S53R T97C Abu-Bakr

10 Antenna Work 160M ON4UN, ON6WU, K1ZM and I built a foursquare vertical array Jeff and I got this task because we would be the 160M operators in the contest John and Roger went to Dubai two weeks before the contest to lay out the array and to set the bases for the towers and anchors Jeff and I arrived one week before the contest to finish the job

11 Antenna Work 160M So What s a Four-Square A four-square vertical array consists of four quarter-wave vertical antennas The four verticals are laid out in a square that measures ¼ wavelength on a side A gazillion radials are laid out under each vertical With proper phasing, directivity can be selected along the diagonals of the square In the olden days phasing was accomplished by switching in various lengths of coax to make the signal arrive at each vertical in the proper phase Now one uses a switch box from Comtek Systems, DX Engineering, etc., to accomplish the phasing. As far as I know, the switch uses magic to do this.

12 Antenna Work 160M The verticals at A61AJ were Rohn 25 towers with insulated bases. Each vertical was 120 feet of Rohn 25 plus a piece of 8- foot aluminum tubing attached to the top The towers were guyed with non-conductive Phillystran cable with about 15 feet of steel cable at the ground end Each vertical had a coax feedline that ran to the phasing box mounted on a pole in the center of the square The main coax feedline and a control cable ran in a trench to the shack

13 Antenna Work 160M Ali measuring for a guy anchor

14 Antenna Work 160M Roger building a rebar cage

15 Antenna Work 160M Pouring concrete for a tower base

16 Antenna Work 160M Pouring concrete for the center pole

17 Antenna Work 160M Installing insulators

18 Antenna work 160M Building the towers

19 Antenna work 160M Building the towers

20 Antenna work 160M Building the towers

21 Antenna work 160M Building the towers

22 Antenna work 160M Building the towers

23 Antenna work 160M Building the towers

24 Antenna work 160M Building the towers

25 Antenna work 80M The 80M yagi needed repair. The mast was bent, the rotator did not turn and the relays that switch between phone and CW did not work UA9BA was the primary 80M op, so he got to work on this antenna A crane did the heavy lifting

26 Antenna work 80M

27 Antenna work 80M

28 40M Yagi

29 20M Stacked Yagis

30 Antenna work 15M & 10M Yagis

31 Antenna work 15M & 10M Yagis K3EST --- W2GD S53R

32 Antenna work 15M & 10M Yagis N2MM

33 Antenna Farm

34 Our Accommodations

35 Our Accommodations Two large bedrooms, each with an en-suite bathroom

36 Our Accommodations Ali had food delivered twice every day

37 Our Accommodations What is everyone looking at???

38 The Shack

39 The Shack 160M M M M 40M M

40 The Shack

41 Outing to the Burj al Arab

42 Outing to the Burj al Arab

43 Outing to the Burj al Arab

44 Then to a Shopping Center

45 The Contest Began at 0000Z, which is 0400 local time in Dubai Over the next 48 hours our 6 stations made a total of 15,647 contacts in 772 band countries and 211 band zones Our final score was 36,606,846 which was good for 1 st Place Asia and 3 rd Place World BAND QSOs ZONES COUNTRIES OPERATORS K1ZM, K2DM 80 1, UA9BA 40 2, B4ADA, T79C 20 3, K3EST, N2MM 15 3, S50R 10 3, W2GD

46 After the Contest UA9BA + Larissa K2RED

47 After the Contest 5B4ADA K3EST S53R W2GD

48 It Ain t The Daily Sun, But